Wireless service point networks

• US 7,305,459 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2003
• Issued: 12/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FireTide Incorporated (UNICOM Global, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: FireTide Incorporated (UNICOM Global, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nassi, Isaac Robert, Cornejo, David Neil, Rosenthal, Lawrence Alan, Klemba, Keith Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Van H.
• Application Number:
  US10/426,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20040215687A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,681 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709/200, 709/220, 709/249, 380/270, 370/338, 370/465, 370/475, 455/432.2, 342/359
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/28 for reactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/30 for proactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

System, apparatus, and methods are disclosed wherewith a group of independent wireless routing devices known as Service Points work cooperatively to form an ad hoc mesh communication network. The resulting Service Point Network is used to provide reliable address-directed communication services between devices attached by conventional means (wired or wireless) to respective Service Ports on any of the Service Points. Attached Utilizing Devices are not considered a part of the Service Point Network and need not contain any custom software or hardware related to the operations of the Service Point Network. Consequently, the networking technology used to form the Service Point Network is independent of the technology used for connecting devices to Service Points. Services for Utilizing Devices include both point-to-point as well as point-to-multi-point communication.

Claims

1. A method of communicating among client devices via a network, the network having an associated address domain and including nodes adapted to communicate with at least one of the client devices, addresses being defined as internal and external with respect to the domain, the method comprising:

wirelessly ad hoc communicating among at least some of the nodes, each node having at least one respective identifier and at least one internal address;

for each client device, establishing communications and a respective association with at least one of the nodes, each client device having a respective external address;

in a source client device of the client devices transmitting to the network data intended for at least one destination client device of the client devices;

internal to the network and transparent to the client devices,

each node associated with each intended destination client device being a destination node and its at least one respective identifier being a destination identifier, and

determining each destination identifier corresponding to each intended destination client device, determining the internal address of each destination node, and routing communications to each destination node using each determined internal address, at least some of the communications being routed to each destination node including at least the transmitted data intended for the associated destination client device and address information regarding the destination node;

each intended destination client device receiving the data transmitted by the source client device; and

wherein the address information regarding each destination node is not provided to the source client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network carries Intemet Protocol traffic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the network nodes communicate with each other using an ad hoc mesh network protocol.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least some of the network nodes communicate with each other using an on-demand routing protocol.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein at least some of the network nodes communicate with each other using a proactive routing protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the network nodes communicate with each other using a network protocol supporting one or more of the following types of routing:

unicast, multi-cast, and broadcast.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said ad hoc network is ad hoc with respect to the number of the nodes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said ad hoc network is ad hoc with respect to the location of the nodes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said ad hoc network is ad hoc with respect to an environment surrounding the nodes.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said ad hoc network is ad hoc with respect to the communications between the client devices and the nodes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the nodes are embodied in physically mobile nodes.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications between each client device and its at least one associated node includes wired communications.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications between each client device and its at least one associated node includes wireless communications.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the nodes is in communications with a plurality of the client devices.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the nodes is integrated in combination with at least one of the client devices such that the integrated combination shares one or more common components.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the integrated combination is a wireless access point.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the nodes is configured to serve in multiple topological roles.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said multiple topological roles include one or more of the following:

leaf node and trunk node.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the network further includes at least one private sub-net including a selected subset of the nodes, each of the selected nodes being configured to only forward communications traffic that is either to or from other ones of the selected nodes.

20. The method of claim 1, further including automatically reorganizing the network into one or more sub-nets.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said automatic reorganization into sub-nets is based at least partly upon one or more of the following factors:

routing, routing management, security management, frequency, authentication, density, identification, age, technologies.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the address information comprises the determined internal address.

23. The method of claim 22, further including dynamically repeating the act of determining the internal address at least subsequent to changes to the internal address of the destination node.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the client devices provide a set of resources including:

applications, printing, network gateway, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), vending/e-commerce, audio, imaging, lighting, utility, appliances, travel, communications, telematics, and emergency/safety.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination client device is selected for communications with the source client device, the destination client device being selected from among one or more candidate client devices in part based on a topological relation between the at least one node associated with the source client device and the at least one node associated with the destination client device.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination client device is selected for communications with the source client device, the destination client device being selected from among one or more candidate client devices in part based on the location of the at least one node associated with the destination client device.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the nodes are service points (SP), the network is a service point network (SPN), the client devices are utilizing devices, the identifiers are port IDs, the source client device is an originator utilizing device associated with an entry SP, the destination client device is a destination utilizing device associated with a terminal SP, and each destination identifier is the port ID of a service port of each terminal SP.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the time the network behaves as a distributed switch to the client devices.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of determining the internal address is repeated at least once during the act of routing to accommodate one or more destination node internal address changes.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the act of determining the internal address is performed at each intermediate routing hop within the network.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the node associated with the source client device is a source node and the act of determining the internal address is performed at least in the source node.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the source node determines the internal address based at least in part upon an external address provided with the data transmitted by the source client device.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of determining the internal address is performed at least in part using a mapping table indexed at least in part by external address, a lookup in the table being performed based at least in part upon an external address provided with the data transmitted by the source client device.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the lookup is performed by at least the node associated with the source client device.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein an instance of the table is stored at least in the node associated with the source client device.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein an instance of the table is stored in each node.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the result of each lookup includes a destination identifier, an internal address distinct from the destination identifier, and an encryption key.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein each destination node is adapted to not disclose to the destination client device any one or more of:

the destination identifier, the internal address of the destination node, and the internal address of the source node.

39. A system for accessing resources in conjunction with client devices external to the system, the system comprising:

a wireless communication network comprising a plurality of nodes, each node of the plurality of nodes comprising;

at least one network-side port adapted to wirelessly route multi-hop traffic via the network, and

at least one client-side port adapted to communicate and be associated with at least one of the client devices, and

wherein each node of the plurality of nodes is adapted such that

each client device becomes associated with at least one of the client-side ports and thereby each client device becomes associated with at least one of the nodes,

each client device communicates over the network via its at least one associated client-side port,

terminal identifiers corresponding to the client devices are mapped to addresses of the associated nodes,

the traffic through the network is routed based on the terminal identifier mapped addresses of the associated nodes, at least some of the traffic through the network comprising data and addressing information, a source client device of the client devices being the origin of the data;

at least one of the client devices being a destination client device intended to receive the data, the addressing information pertaining to the at least one node associated with each destination client device, and

the mapping and the routing are done in a manner transparent to the client devices, none of the addressing information being provided to the source client device.

40. A node adapted for use in a wireless network and in conjunction with client devices considered external to the network, the network including a plurality of the nodes, each node comprising:

at least one network-side port adapted to wirelessly route multi-hop traffic via the network;

at least one client-side port adapted to communicate and be associated with at least one of the client devices, and

wherein each node is adapted such that

each client device becomes associated with at least one of the client-side ports and thereby each client device becomes associated with at least one of the nodes,

each client device communicates over the network via its at least one associated client-side port,

terminal identifiers corresponding to the client devices are mapped to addresses of the associated nodes,

the traffic through the network is routed based on the terminal identifier mapped addresses of the associated nodes, at least some of the traffic through the network comprising data and addressing information, a source client device of the client devices being the origin of the data, at least one of the client devices being a destination client device intended to receive the data, the addressing information pertaining to the at least one node associated with each destination client device, and

the mapping and the routing are done in a manner transparent to the client devices, none of the addressing information being provided to the source client device.

41. The node of claim 40, wherein the client devices address their associated client-side ports of the network using a single common IP address configured for all client-side ports.

42. The node of claim 40, wherein the at least one network-side port is a plurality of network-side ports.

43. The node of claim 40, wherein the at least one client-side port is a plurality of client-side ports.